“‘Come ashore with me, Ned,’ he says, in his curt way.

“I jumped up, of course, and away after him down the gangway and up George Street.  He strode along like a giant, and I at his elbow, panting.  It was confoundedly hot.  ’Where on earth are you rushing me to, Charley?’ I made bold to ask.

“‘Here,’ he says.

“‘Here’ was a jeweller’s shop.  I couldn’t imagine what he could want there.  It seemed a sort of mad freak.  He thrusts under my nose three rings, which looked very tiny on his big, brown palm, growling out—­

“‘For Maggie!  Which?’

“I got a kind of scare at this.  I couldn’t make a sound, but I pointed at the one that sparkled white and blue.  He put it in his waistcoat pocket, paid for it with a lot of sovereigns, and bolted out.  When we got on board I was quite out of breath.  ‘Shake hands, old chap,’ I gasped out.  He gave me a thump on the back.  ’Give what orders you like to the boatswain when the hands turn-to,’ says he; ’I am off duty this afternoon.’

“Then he vanished from the deck for a while, but presently he came out of the cabin with Maggie, and these two went over the gangway publicly, before all hands, going for a walk together on that awful, blazing hot day, with clouds of dust flying about.  They came back after a few hours looking very staid, but didn’t seem to have the slightest idea where they had been.  Anyway, that’s the answer they both made to Mrs. Colchester’s question at tea-time.

“And didn’t she turn on Charley, with her voice like an old night cabman’s!  ’Rubbish.  Don’t know where you’ve been!  Stuff and nonsense.  You’ve walked the girl off her legs.  Don’t do it again.’

“It’s surprising how meek Charley could be with that old woman.  Only on one occasion he whispered to me, ’I’m jolly glad she isn’t Maggie’s aunt, except by marriage.  That’s no sort of relationship.’  But I think he let Maggie have too much of her own way.  She was hopping all over that ship in her yachting skirt and a red tam o’ shanter like a bright bird on a dead black tree.  The old salts used to grin to themselves when they saw her coming along, and offered to teach her knots or splices.  I believe she liked the men, for Charley’s sake, I suppose.

“As you may imagine, the fiendish propensities of that cursed ship were never spoken of on board.  Not in the cabin, at any rate.  Only once on the homeward passage Charley said, incautiously, something about bringing all her crew home this time.  Captain Colchester began to look uncomfortable at once, and that silly, hard-bitten old woman flew out at Charley as though he had said something indecent.  I was quite confounded myself; as to Maggie, she sat completely mystified, opening her blue eyes very wide.  Of course, before she was a day older she wormed it all out of me.  She was a very difficult person to lie to.

“‘How awful,’ she said, quite solemn.  ’So many poor fellows.  I am glad the voyage is nearly over.  I won’t have a moment’s peace about Charley now.’